Paul and Lucy Spadoni periodically live in Tuscany to explore Paul’s Italian roots, practice their Italian and enjoy “la dolce vita.”
All work is copyrighted and may not be reprinted without written permission from the author, who can be contacted at www.paulspadoni.com

Friday, February 19, 2016

"Relax home banking" not all that relaxing yet, but it's very secure

I spent nearly two hours in the Banca
di Pescia yesterday, applying for a bank card and learning how to use
my online “home banking” account. That’s what they call online
banking in Italy—not “banca da casa.” They use the
English words, perhaps because they only have a word for bank (banca)
but not for banking. My bank has partnered with a service called
Relax Banking, and it should be convenient to use an online account,
because I will then be able to access my account when I am in the
States.

Security at Italian banks is taken very
seriously. To enter any bank, one must pass through a machine operated glassed-in
entryway, often a revolving door, that only allows one person at a
time. Presumably, if a thief tried to rob the bank, he would have to
wait in the revolving door to get out, and then an alert bank manager
could lock him in and call for the polizia.

Online banking also has extra security
features. I essentially have to use four different user-name and
password combinations to log in a pay a bill. This caused some
confusion the first time I tried it at home, because the initial
log-in page only has fields for three entries. I had meant to try
this out last fall, when I was in Italy for two weeks to finalize our
home purchase, but I ran out of time. When I tried it in Gig Harbor,
I wasn’t able to get in. The first field was for user name, which
was clearly marked on my instructions. However, which of the three
passwords that I had should I enter in the next two spaces? I tried
various combinations but didn’t get it right, so the program locked
me out.

How could I get a new temporary
password to try again? My Italian banker said he could ask online
services to send me a new password, but it would come on my Italian
cell phone, which didn’t work in the United States. I decided to
wait until I came back to Italy so that I could get some one-on-one
help.

Cell phone in hand, I met with Sara, a
clerk at my bank, who showed me which three codes went in which three
fields. She also told me that all letters must be in capitals, which
is probably the reason my earlier attempts failed. The fourth
password, the password disponitiva, is only needed when I
actually make a transaction, such as paying a bill or transferring
money. We tried it out by paying two of the utility bills which I had
found in my mailbox, and even Sara came up with an error message when
she entered the password disponitiva.

She tried several times and then called
online services. After some time, the technician on the phone said he
would send a new temporary password to my phone, and we could start
from the beginning. I had to come up with new passwords, but this
time it worked. I was glad to see that I was not the only one who had
trouble using the system. I took careful notes, so I think I can do
it all myself when the time comes again.

After that, she filled out the forms so
I can get a bank card, and I withdrew money to pay for some
electrical work Lucy and I had done on our house. It’s a
time-consuming process to establish all the services needed for
living in another country. Living here is definitely not all dolce vita.
But I did all the banking and contracting for the electrical work
without the need for an interpreter, so I can mentally allocate the
hours I spent as language lessons, making it seem like a more
worthwhile use of time.

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About Me

First off, before you hassle me about our title, Lucy thought of it. Yes, I know some people may think broad is derogatory, but the etymology is uncertain and she doesn’t find it offensive, and it made me laugh. We have been married since 1974 and are empty-nesters now, which allows me to bring my submerged Italophilia into the open. We first came to live in Italy from February-April in 2011 and have returned during the same months every year. From 2011-2015, we lived in San Salvatore, at the foot of the hilltop city Montecarlo, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and, in 1908, married. In late 2015, we bought a home in Montecarlo. We come for a variety of purposes: We want to re-establish contact with distant cousins in both Nonno’s and Nonna’s families, we want to learn the language and see what it is like to live as Italians in modern Italy, we like to travel and experience different cultures. Even if we aren’t successful at achieving these purposes, we love Italy and enjoy every moment here, so there is no chance we will be disappointed. I am grateful to God for giving me a wife who is beautiful, clever, adaptable and willing to jump into my dreams wholeheartedly.